100% proof that Vodafone is doing something with the services.

[GreatBritian]

Hello.

Unforunately after speaking to multiple departments within Vodafone it appears no-one is able to take my concerns seriously in regards to the Unlimited Max Plan, and I have found no real way of sending proof of what is actually happening to your agents so I have had to as a last resort record a video of what is happening in my area and uploaded it to YouTube in hope that the Social Media Team members will look at this and liaise with the Technical Department to investigate this.

Please see the below YouTube video URL for proof that something is 100% going on with the connection.

https://youtu.be/Oy6zoV5_HlU

(The device in question is a Note 10 Plus 5G)

In this video you will see me performing a speedtest made using the SpeedTest App available on the PlayStore showing what appears to be throttled speed without the use of a VPN (Speeds of usually up to 10Mb/s although this test got slightly more) and then performing the test again using a VPN (ExpressVPN) which will significantly increase the speeds.

Please understand that this is taken in the exact same place and the only difference is the fact that i'm connected to a VPN.

I appreciate that I have been dealing with the Vodafone's Directors Office (They themselves admitted they are not technically trained) and I appreciate the steps which my complaint handler has performed to my account in a attempt to resolve the issue and the discount provided to me, however I do feel that Vodafone hasn't properly taken into account my concerns and raised a full investigation to figure out what is actually going on and made no attempt at actually investigating the issues raised with them. I do feel like I have been brushed off with a Discount which I admit is appreciated everyone loves a discount but I think someone from the Technical Team would be more ideal to conduct a full investigation into what is actually happening.

I have no idea what is going on with the service and why this is the way it is. I have had a browse through the Vodafone Forum and have noticed multiple people posting near enough the same issue on Vodafone's Broadband Package users, whilst I don't see this mentioned much for Mobile Devices or Mobile Plans. I appear to of read a potential Routing Issue with Vodafone or something along those lines not that long ago.

I will say that I am located within the Kingston Upon Hull area which I am believing that CityFibre have something to do with it, but the same happened in Manchester which is confusing. I have used every major Mobile Network in this area such as O2, Three and EE and I have never experienced this kind of issue with them.

It's also worth noting that I do like Vodafone, I've been on Voxi before and loved them. All I ask is that Vodafone takes my concerns seriously and notice there's a major issue rather than just dismissing them with a Discount or a Account refresh (Disabling Sim and Re-enabling) which has been performed twice now. I want Vodafone to take this message seriously and conduct a full investigation into the concerns raised and speak to the people who deal with the Masts and figure out what is actually going on.

Tried and tested activies in a attempt to resolve the issues include.

- Connecting to a VPN - Worked and made a massive difference as shown in the Video above

- Changing the device - This made no difference

- Changing the Sim Card - This made no difference

- Changing the DNS to 1.1.1.1/8.8.4.4 - This made no difference

- Manually selecting another network and then back to Vodafone - This made no difference

- Refreshing the APN settings - This made no difference

- Having my account Refreshed - This made no difference

I have done a Traceroute test to try and help Vodafone locate the issues with which server address's my requests are going through.

(On all the Traceroute tests I have completed numbers 2, 5 and 6 have timed out regardless of where it's going to).

Tracing route to google.co.uk [216.58.213.3]

over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.42.129

  2     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  3    71 ms     *        *     192.168.213.21

  4    39 ms    40 ms    38 ms  192.168.213.22

  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.

  7    41 ms    38 ms    41 ms  63.130.127.221

  8    60 ms    40 ms    37 ms  90.255.251.18

  9    38 ms    39 ms    40 ms  108.170.246.161

 10    46 ms    40 ms    40 ms  172.253.65.211

 11    57 ms    42 ms    38 ms  ber01s14-in-f3.1e100.net [216.58.213.3]

I would love other people to share their input on this forum post if they have had the same kind of issue and if Vodafone was able to resolve the issue how and what actions where taken to the account to resolve the issue.

I would appreciate it if the Social Media Team members could forward this to someone in the Technical Team within Vodafone who can take a look at this video and information presented through the Traceroute and figure out what is going on and investigate to come up with a solution for this issue.

[Lynxthecat]

Treating packets differently depending upon what they are is a violation of net neutrality. 

To be content that the continual  application of 10Mbit/s throttling on port 443, or the form of throttling described by the original poster on this thread, both of which can simply be circumvented with a VPN, is a cop out.

Whether by design or by accident it is unacceptable. Either way, the customer service and technical competence at Vodafone appears to be sufficiently inadequate that this issue has still not even been properly addressed.

Vodafone has all it needs in this thread and on the notes on at least my account to investigate and resolve this issue. But I am not going to jump through any further hoops now. 

[vinod]

LynxTheCat,

With all due respect, I empathise with the situation.

However,  since this is an open/public community, the point am trying to make can be explained in a bit more layman’s term, so others will also understand, if they are facing similar issue such as yours.

-Buy a payg 4G simcard get additional handsets(one same as the problem one and the other one different make/model )

-Run the same set of tests you have done so far on all 3 handsets with both simcards.

While doing the tests, more importantly,   make sure you can reproduce the same issue on all 3 handsets before raising NN concerns.

a) On all  3 phones when both Simcards are interchanged? 

b) At different mast locations 

c) At different service times

Hope you now understand why ‘parameters’ need to be constant before making NN related assertions.

Let me also humbly mention that Companies like Vodafone spent millions on network testing, and if you are right - they have done something wrong in the process, and this is only a fixable technical issue, not a net-neutrality issue!

Hope you are getting the point am trying to make.

Have a good day!

[Lynxthecat]

We are a business and have tested with three different Vodafone SIMs using two different handsets and a 4G router. The issue manifests on all devices with all SIMs. 

The issue is very specifically 10Mbit/s throttling on port 443. Not associated with any particular SIM. Not associated with any particular device. I see evidence of it on more than one mast in our locality.

As for the original poster, and as the videos show, the use of a VPN circumvents the throttling. 

[vinod]

Ah, you are a business customer. Apologies, they clearly say it on the tin re: throttling!  

 

[Lynxthecat]

Taking the time to absorb the subject-matter of a thread is a prerequisite to providing a meaningful contribution.

Vodafone advertise three plans:

Unlimited Lite - 2Mbit/s global throttling

Unlimited - 10Mbit/s global throttling 

Unlimited MAX - no throttling.

The above forms of throttling are global, i.e. max throughput and port invariant. 

The posts above are about the more or less continual application of 10Mbit/s throttling on port 443 on SIMs with the so-called Unlimited MAX contract, which is supposedly unthrottled. Can be circumvented with a VPN. 

Highly dubious from a mis-selling and net neutrality perspective. More for Ofcom to investigate, as for the original poster on this thread. 

[vinod]

It is probably a good idea is to make sure the business account the simcards are operating under are not tiered under throttled plans. 

From the OP to the most recent, it is clear that the 'achievable' speed of all plans (including unlimited-max plans) vary based on location and devices.    @Lynxthecat, There is no argument to the fact that Vodafone are throttling the speeds for the simcards registered under your business account.  They are throttling either by T&Cs attached on the contract plan or by error. The point of contention is the net neutrality related assertions, and such assertions cannot be made from an individual' experience of using the service. That is why there is industry & market regulations in place.    

[Lynxthecat]

This thread evidences inappropriate throttling. Whether by design or accident, Vodafone should not be applying continual 10Mbit/s packet-dependent throttling on port 443 on unlimited MAX contracts. Sadly for both the original poster and myself, given the dire state of its customer service it takes Ofcom involvement before such issues get addressed. Hardly great press for Vodafone, which is something their customer service could really do with at the moment. 

[Maxsquared]

@Lynxthecat, did you get anywhere with this? I think I have the same issue as you, Unlimited Max, works fine web browsing, even speed test works. But App Store download, YouTube (premium) downloads are slow, and I get exactly the same result with those download links for port 443 and port 80 as you.

I only just renewed my contract with a purchase of a 5G phone. I didn't remember I had this problem before the renewal, I wonder if that was anything todo with it.

[Lynxthecat]

No, save for obtaining compensation. It's a violation of the net neutrality provisions. Vodafone apparently don't care. Not do their customer service.

For all experiencing this issue: please file a complaint here: 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/complaints

[Maxsquared]

Sorry to hear that, my issue seems to be resolved - magically.... Last night I had to restart my phone as there were a update, and ever since then it was ok for downloads and streaming. Hope your issue gets resolved soon.